Gov. Kay Ivey signs bill protecting Confederate monuments

Gov. Kay Ivey this afternoon signed into law a bill to prohibit local governments from moving historical monuments on public property that have been in place for 40 years or more, according to a news release from the bill's sponsor.

The new law also prohibits renaming buildings and streets with historical names that have been in place at least 40 years.

The law is not restricted to Confederate monuments, but has broad impact.

Restrictions also apply to monuments at least 20 years old but less than 40, and streets and schools at least 20 years old but less than 40 that are named after a historical person. Removal or renaming requires approval from a newly created Committee on Alabama Monument Protection. The law outlines the process required to get a waiver from the committee.

The law, proposed in a bill by Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, is called the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act.

"I appreciate Gov. Ivey standing up for the thoughtful preservation of Alabama's history," Allen said in a press release. "Contrary to what its detractors say, the Memorial Preservation Act is intended to preserve all of Alabama's history - the good and the bad - so our children and grandchildren can learn from the past to create a better future."

Allen and other lawmakers have sponsored similar bills since 2015, when former Gov. Robert Bentley removed Confederate flags from the state Capitol grounds.

The Southern Poverty Law Center issued a statement critical of the new law.

"The Alabama Memorial Preservation Act of 2017 is not about preserving our state's history, but about protecting Confederate monuments that celebrate white supremacy and a time in which an entire race was enslaved and oppressed," said Rhonda Brownstein, legal director for the SPLC.

"Other states and municipalities are removing these monuments from public property and placing them in museums, where people can learn the full history of slavery, the Civil War and the Confederacy. That's where they belong."

The bill passed the two houses largely along party lines, with support from the Republican majority and opposition from most Democrats.

Black lawmakers were outspoken against the bill. They argued, in part, that it was wrong for the Legislature to dictate to local communities about monuments that sit on local public property.

"In fact, what it does it says whoever was in power and was able to put their history in monuments, they are protected," Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, said when the bill passed the Senate in March.

The 11-member Alabama Monument Protection Committee will include two House members, one from each party, and two senators, one from each party, appointed by the speaker and president pro tem. It will include four members of the public, two appointed by the legislative leaders and two by the governor. And the governor will appoint a county commissioner and two mayors.

An entity that moves or renames a monument or building without a waiver would be subject to a $25,000 fine as determined by the attorney general, according to the new law.

Updated at 9:51 a.m. on May 25 to add statement from the Southern Poverty Law Center.